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Delta Blues
- The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters Who Revolutionized American Music
- Narrated by: Chris Abernathy
- Length: 17 hrs and 17 mins
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Publisher's summary
The definitive account of how the rough sounds of the Mississippi Delta changed the course of American popular music.
The blues grew out of the plantations and prisons, the swampy marshes and fertile cotton fields of the Mississippi Delta. With original research and keen insights, Ted Gioia - the author of a landmark study of West Coast jazz and the critically acclaimed The History of Jazz - brings to life the stirring music of the Delta, evoking the legendary figures who shaped its sound and ethos: Robert Johnson, Charley Patton, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf, B. B. King, and others.
Tracing the history of the Delta blues from the field hollers and plantation music of the 19th century to the exploits of modern-day musicians in the Delta tradition, Delta Blues tells the full story of this timeless and unforgettable music. No cultural force boasts such humble origins or such world-conquering reverberations. In this evocative rags-to-riches tale, Gioia shows how the sounds of the Delta altered the course of popular music in America and in the world beyond.
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-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 99
Ed Ward covers the first half of the history of rock & roll in this sweeping and definitive narrative - from the 1920s, when the music of rambling medicine shows mingled with the songs of vaudeville and minstrel acts to create the very early sounds of country and rhythm and blues, to the rise of the first independent record labels post-World War II, and concluding in December 1963, just as an immense change in the airwaves took hold and the Beatles prepared for their first American tour.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
Author's blindspots mar this book
- By Mark Clark on 03-28-17
By: Ed Ward
-
Skydog
- The Duane Allman Story
- By: Randy Poe, Billy F. Gibbons - foreword
- Narrated by: Arthur Flavell
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 28
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 23
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 23
Revised and expanded, with a new afterword by the author, this is the definitive biography of Duane Allman, one of the most revered guitarists of his generation. Skydog reveals the complete story of the legendary guitarist: his childhood and musical awakening; his struggling first bands; his hard-won mastery of the slide guitar; his emergence as a successful session musician; his creation of the Allman Brothers Band; his tragic death at age 24; and his thriving musical legacy.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
duane was the best great story
- By OBIE on 08-08-23
By: Randy Poe, and others
-
Elton John
- The Biography
- By: David Buckley
- Narrated by: Simon Shepherd
- Length: 16 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 53
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 50
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 50
Elton John is as much loved for his outrageous personality and witty outspokenness as for his music. Such shamelessness and sheer silliness rivals anything uttered by punk rockers, yet it is so typically Elton: honest and intemperate. Tragedy and heartbreak have played a large part in his life. Behind the parties, the hedonism, the lavish stage costumes, and silly glasses lies a more somber story. Between disputes with managers, legal wranglings, public breakups, and divorce, John has been faced with serious health problems and drug addictions.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Trite!
- By michael mckone on 08-04-22
By: David Buckley
-
Never a Dull Moment
- 1971 - the Year That Rock Exploded
- By: David Hepworth
- Narrated by: David Hepworth
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 212
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 200
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 197
On New Year's Eve, 1970, Paul McCartney told his lawyers to issue the writ at the High Court in London, effectively ending The Beatles. You might say this was the last day of the pop era. The following day, which was a Friday, was 1971. You might say this was the first day of the rock era. And within the remaining 364 days of this monumental year, the world would hear Don McLean's "American Pie", The Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar", The Who's "Baba O'Riley", Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven", and more.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A blast from the past
- By Amazon Customer on 07-30-16
By: David Hepworth
-
King of the Blues
- The Rise and Reign of B.B. King
- By: Daniel De Visé
- Narrated by: Cary Hite
- Length: 17 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 63
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 58
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 58
Riley “Blues Boy” King (1925-2015) was born into deep poverty in Jim Crow Mississippi. Wrenched away from his sharecropper father, B.B. lost his mother at age 10, leaving him more or less alone. Music became his emancipation from exhausting toil in the fields. Inspired by a local minister’s guitar and by the records of Blind Lemon Jefferson and T-Bone Walker and encouraged by his cousin, the established blues man Bukka White, B.B. taught his guitar to sing in the unique solo style that, along with his relentless work ethic and humanity, became his trademark.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent
- By Sonny Garcia on 01-02-24
By: Daniel De Visé
-
Shining Star
- Braving the Elements of Earth, Wind & Fire
- By: Philip Bailey, Keith Zimmerman, Kent Zimmerman
- Narrated by: Philip Bailey
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 124
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 108
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 110
With more than 90 million records sold and eight Grammy Awards throughout its 40-year history, Earth, Wind & Fire has staked its claim as one of the most successful, influential, and beloved acts in music history. Now, for the first time, its dynamic lead singer, Philip Bailey, chronicles the group's meteoric rise to stardom and his own professional and spiritual journey. Never before had a musical act crossed multiple styles and genres with a quixotic blend of astrology, universalism, and Egyptology as Earth, Wind & Fire (EWF) did when it exploded into the public's conscience during the 1970s.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Great book, but needed pro narrator
- By Wayne on 03-23-16
By: Philip Bailey, and others
-
Light & Shade
- Conversations with Jimmy Page
- By: Brad Tolinski
- Narrated by: Robert Fass, John Lee
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 179
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 156
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 157
More than 30 years after disbanding in 1980, Led Zeppelin continues to be celebrated for its artistic achievements, broad musical influence, and commercial success. The band's notorious exploits have been chronicled in bestselling books; yet none of the individual members of the band has penned a memoir nor cooperated to any degree with the press or a biographer.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Production History, FY!
- By Amy Peacock on 02-21-17
By: Brad Tolinski
-
Dig If You Will the Picture
- Funk, Sex, God and Genius in the Music of Prince
- By: Ben Greenman
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 32
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 29
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 30
Ben Greenman, New York Times best-selling author, contributing writer to The New Yorker, and owner of thousands of recordings of Prince and Prince-related songs, knows intimately that there has never been a rock star as vibrant, mercurial, willfully contrary, experimental, or prolific as Prince. Uniting a diverse audience while remaining singularly himself, Prince was a tireless artist, a musical virtuoso and chameleon, and a pop-culture prophet.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Reads like a indepth career review & analysis
- By herb on 05-18-17
By: Ben Greenman
-
Music
- A Subversive History
- By: Ted Gioia
- Narrated by: Jamie Renell
- Length: 17 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 126
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 107
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 107
Histories of music overwhelmingly suppress stories of the outsiders and rebels who created musical revolutions and instead celebrate the mainstream assimilators who borrowed innovations, diluted their impact, and disguised their sources. In Music: A Subversive History, Ted Gioia reclaims the story of music for the riffraff, insurgents, and provocateurs. Gioia tells a 4,000-year history of music as a global source of power, change, and upheaval.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Squeezing cherry-picked facts into a simplistic narrative
- By Erik A. Ritland on 11-24-20
By: Ted Gioia
-
Thelonious Monk
- The Life and Times of an American Original
- By: Robin DG Kelley
- Narrated by: Sean Crisden
- Length: 25 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 162
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 139
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 139
Thelonious Monk is the critically acclaimed, gripping saga of an artist's struggle to "make it" without compromising his musical vision. It is a story that, like its subject, reflects the tidal ebbs and flows of American history in the 20th century. To his fans, he was the ultimate hipster; to his detractors, he was temperamental, eccentric, taciturn, or childlike. His angular melodies and dissonant harmonies shook the jazz world to its foundations, ushering in the birth of "bebop" and establishing Monk as one of America's greatest composers.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The definitive bio of Monk
- By ricardo on 12-27-17
By: Robin DG Kelley
-
Your Song Changed My Life
- From Jimmy Page to St. Vincent, Smokey Robinson to Hozier, Thirty-Five Beloved Artists on Their Journey and the Music That Inspired It
- By: Bob Boilen
- Narrated by: Bob Boilen
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 58
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 53
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 52
From the beloved host and creator of NPR's All Songs Considered and Tiny Desk Concerts comes an essential oral history of modern music, told in the voices of iconic and up-and-coming musicians, including Dave Grohl, Jimmy Page, Michael Stipe, Carrie Brownstein, Smokey Robinson, and Jeff Tweedy, among others - published in association with NPR Music.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
Cool if you know all interviewed artists
- By Farfield on 12-05-16
By: Bob Boilen
-
Solid State
- The Story of Abbey Road and the End of the Beatles
- By: Kenneth Womack, Alan Parsons - foreword
- Narrated by: William Hughes
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 629
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 543
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 540
In February 1969, the Beatles began working on what became their final album together. Abbey Road introduced a number of new techniques and technologies to the Beatles' sound and included "Come Together", "Something", and "Here Comes the Sun", which all emerged as classics. Womack's colorful retelling of how this landmark album was written and recorded is a treat for fans of the Beatles. Solid State takes listeners back to 1969 and into EMI's Abbey Road Studios, which boasted an advanced solid state transistor mixing desk.
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1 out of 5 stars
-
It's all about the recording studios
- By Tina on 02-18-20
By: Kenneth Womack, and others
-
The Wrecking Crew
- The Inside Story of Rock and Roll's Best-Kept Secret
- By: Kent Hartman
- Narrated by: Dan John Miller
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 885
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 808
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 810
If you were a fan of popular music in the 1960s and early '70s, you were a fan of the Wrecking Crew - whether you knew it or not. On hit record after hit record by everyone from the Byrds, the Beach Boys, and the Monkees to the Grass Roots, the 5th Dimension, Sonny & Cher, and Simon & Garfunkel, this collection of West Coast studio musicians from diverse backgrounds established themselves as the driving sound of pop music - sometimes over the objection of actual band members....
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3 out of 5 stars
-
Left Guessing
- By Patrick King on 04-29-14
By: Kent Hartman
-
Goodnight, L.A.
- Untold Tales from Inside Classic Rock’s Legendary Recording Studios
- By: Kent Hartman
- Narrated by: Dan John Miller
- Length: 7 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 58
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 49
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 50
From behind the walls of a handful of well-hidden, unlikely recording studios in the Los Angeles area, legends-in-waiting created masterpiece albums. It was a time of astonishing creativity and unprecedented fame and fortune. It was also a time of unfettered excess that threatened to unravel everything along the way. With access that only a longtime music business insider can provide, Kent Hartman packs Goodnight, L.A. with never-before-told stories about the most prolific time and iconic place in rock 'n' roll history.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
great stories and insight into a miraculous time
- By RWM on 05-27-22
By: Kent Hartman
-
Uncommon People
- The Rise and Fall of The Rock Stars
- By: David Hepworth
- Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 56
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 50
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 50
The age of the rock star, like the age of the cowboy, has passed. Like the cowboy, the idea of the rock star lives on in our imaginations. What did we see in them? Swagger. Recklessness. Sexual charisma. Damn-the-torpedoes self-belief. A certain way of carrying themselves. Good hair. Interesting shoes. Talent we wished we had. What did we want of them? To be larger than life but also like us. To live out their songs. To stay young forever. No wonder many didn't stay the course.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
INSIGHTFULL!
- By CLAUDIA R KENNEDY on 02-18-18
By: David Hepworth
-
Bright lights dark shadows
- The real story of Abba
- By: Carl Palm
- Narrated by: Adrian Mulraney
- Length: 26 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 121
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 102
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 100
An exploration of all aspects of the Abba member’s lives and careers. Amazingly detailed, it examines the group member’s family backgrounds, the pre-Abba days, the legendary 70s, the marriages, the divorces, the business ups and downs, and the post-Abba solo careers.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Awesome! -- All the Swedish words pronounced!
- By Howard_a on 06-18-12
By: Carl Palm
-
Chairman at the Board
- Recording the Soundtrack of a Generation
- By: Bill Schnee
- Narrated by: Bill Schnee
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 40
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 33
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 32
With over 125 gold and platinum records, and two Grammys for Steely Dan's Aja and Gaucho, Schnee has been called a living legend - recognized and respected in the industry as the consummate music man with an incomparable career that he lovingly shares with listeners in humorous detail.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Worst narration ever!
- By Anonymous User on 01-26-23
By: Bill Schnee
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Music
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- By: Ted Gioia
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 126
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 107
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 107
Histories of music overwhelmingly suppress stories of the outsiders and rebels who created musical revolutions and instead celebrate the mainstream assimilators who borrowed innovations, diluted their impact, and disguised their sources. In Music: A Subversive History, Ted Gioia reclaims the story of music for the riffraff, insurgents, and provocateurs. Gioia tells a 4,000-year history of music as a global source of power, change, and upheaval.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Squeezing cherry-picked facts into a simplistic narrative
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Up Jumped the Devil
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- By: Bruce Conforth, Gayle Dean Wardlow
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 131
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 125
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Robert Johnson is the subject of the most famous myth about the blues: he allegedly sold his soul at the crossroads in exchange for his incredible talent, and this deal led to his death at age 27. But the actual story of his life remains unknown save for a few inaccurate anecdotes. Up Jumped the Devil is the result of over 50 years of research. Gayle Dean Wardlow has been interviewing people who knew Robert Johnson since the early 1960s, and he was the person who discovered Johnson's death certificate in 1967.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing
- By William on 03-01-20
By: Bruce Conforth, and others
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The History of Jazz, Second Edition
- By: Ted Gioia
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 21 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 300
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 272
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 270
Ted Gioia's History of Jazz has been universally hailed as a classic - acclaimed by jazz critics and fans around the world. Now Gioia brings his magnificent work completely up-to-date, drawing on the latest research and revisiting virtually every aspect of the music, past and present. Gioia tells the story of jazz as it had never been told before, in a book that brilliantly portrays the legendary jazz players, the breakthrough styles, and the world in which it evolved. Here are the giants of jazz and the great moments of jazz history.
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2 out of 5 stars
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An Exciting Opportunity Missed
- By Kindle Customer on 02-02-15
By: Ted Gioia
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How to Listen to Jazz
- By: Ted Gioia
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 181
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 166
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 161
In How to Listen to Jazz, award-winning music scholar Ted Gioia presents a lively introduction to one of America's premier art forms. He tells us what to listen for in a performance and includes a guide to today's leading jazz musicians. From Louis Armstrong's innovative sounds to the jazz-rock fusion of Miles Davis, Gioia covers the music's history and reveals the building blocks of improvisation. A true love letter to jazz by a foremost expert.
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1 out of 5 stars
-
Kind of useless as an audiobook.
- By Mitch Foster on 02-28-20
By: Ted Gioia
-
Thelonious Monk
- The Life and Times of an American Original
- By: Robin DG Kelley
- Narrated by: Sean Crisden
- Length: 25 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 162
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 139
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 139
Thelonious Monk is the critically acclaimed, gripping saga of an artist's struggle to "make it" without compromising his musical vision. It is a story that, like its subject, reflects the tidal ebbs and flows of American history in the 20th century. To his fans, he was the ultimate hipster; to his detractors, he was temperamental, eccentric, taciturn, or childlike. His angular melodies and dissonant harmonies shook the jazz world to its foundations, ushering in the birth of "bebop" and establishing Monk as one of America's greatest composers.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The definitive bio of Monk
- By ricardo on 12-27-17
By: Robin DG Kelley
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The Jazz Standards
- A Guide to the Repertoire
- By: Ted Gioia
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 21 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 74
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 60
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 59
Written by award-winning jazz historian Ted Gioia, this comprehensive guide offers an illuminating look at more than 250 seminal jazz compositions. In this comprehensive and unique survey, here are the songs that sit at the heart of the jazz repertoire, ranging from "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Autumn in New York" to "God Bless the Child," "How High the Moon," and "I Can't Give You Anything But Love." Gioia includes Broadway show tunes written by such greats as George Gershwin and Irving Berlin, and classics by such famed jazz musicians as Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, and John Coltrane.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
Great info, but not ideal in audio format
- By Patrick on 08-30-14
By: Ted Gioia
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Music
- A Subversive History
- By: Ted Gioia
- Narrated by: Jamie Renell
- Length: 17 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 126
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 107
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 107
Histories of music overwhelmingly suppress stories of the outsiders and rebels who created musical revolutions and instead celebrate the mainstream assimilators who borrowed innovations, diluted their impact, and disguised their sources. In Music: A Subversive History, Ted Gioia reclaims the story of music for the riffraff, insurgents, and provocateurs. Gioia tells a 4,000-year history of music as a global source of power, change, and upheaval.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Squeezing cherry-picked facts into a simplistic narrative
- By Erik A. Ritland on 11-24-20
By: Ted Gioia
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Up Jumped the Devil
- The Real Life of Robert Johnson
- By: Bruce Conforth, Gayle Dean Wardlow
- Narrated by: Leon Nixon
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 131
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 125
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 125
Robert Johnson is the subject of the most famous myth about the blues: he allegedly sold his soul at the crossroads in exchange for his incredible talent, and this deal led to his death at age 27. But the actual story of his life remains unknown save for a few inaccurate anecdotes. Up Jumped the Devil is the result of over 50 years of research. Gayle Dean Wardlow has been interviewing people who knew Robert Johnson since the early 1960s, and he was the person who discovered Johnson's death certificate in 1967.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing
- By William on 03-01-20
By: Bruce Conforth, and others
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The History of Jazz, Second Edition
- By: Ted Gioia
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 21 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 300
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 272
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 270
Ted Gioia's History of Jazz has been universally hailed as a classic - acclaimed by jazz critics and fans around the world. Now Gioia brings his magnificent work completely up-to-date, drawing on the latest research and revisiting virtually every aspect of the music, past and present. Gioia tells the story of jazz as it had never been told before, in a book that brilliantly portrays the legendary jazz players, the breakthrough styles, and the world in which it evolved. Here are the giants of jazz and the great moments of jazz history.
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2 out of 5 stars
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An Exciting Opportunity Missed
- By Kindle Customer on 02-02-15
By: Ted Gioia
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How to Listen to Jazz
- By: Ted Gioia
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 181
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 166
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 161
In How to Listen to Jazz, award-winning music scholar Ted Gioia presents a lively introduction to one of America's premier art forms. He tells us what to listen for in a performance and includes a guide to today's leading jazz musicians. From Louis Armstrong's innovative sounds to the jazz-rock fusion of Miles Davis, Gioia covers the music's history and reveals the building blocks of improvisation. A true love letter to jazz by a foremost expert.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Kind of useless as an audiobook.
- By Mitch Foster on 02-28-20
By: Ted Gioia
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Thelonious Monk
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- By: Robin DG Kelley
- Narrated by: Sean Crisden
- Length: 25 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 162
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 139
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Story5 out of 5 stars 139
Thelonious Monk is the critically acclaimed, gripping saga of an artist's struggle to "make it" without compromising his musical vision. It is a story that, like its subject, reflects the tidal ebbs and flows of American history in the 20th century. To his fans, he was the ultimate hipster; to his detractors, he was temperamental, eccentric, taciturn, or childlike. His angular melodies and dissonant harmonies shook the jazz world to its foundations, ushering in the birth of "bebop" and establishing Monk as one of America's greatest composers.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The definitive bio of Monk
- By ricardo on 12-27-17
By: Robin DG Kelley
-
The Jazz Standards
- A Guide to the Repertoire
- By: Ted Gioia
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 21 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 74
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 60
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 59
Written by award-winning jazz historian Ted Gioia, this comprehensive guide offers an illuminating look at more than 250 seminal jazz compositions. In this comprehensive and unique survey, here are the songs that sit at the heart of the jazz repertoire, ranging from "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Autumn in New York" to "God Bless the Child," "How High the Moon," and "I Can't Give You Anything But Love." Gioia includes Broadway show tunes written by such greats as George Gershwin and Irving Berlin, and classics by such famed jazz musicians as Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, and John Coltrane.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Great info, but not ideal in audio format
- By Patrick on 08-30-14
By: Ted Gioia
-
The Blues
- The Authentic Narrative of My Music and Culture
- By: Chris Thomas King
- Narrated by: Adam Lazarre-White
- Length: 24 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 10
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 9
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 9
All prior histories on the blues have alleged it originated on plantations in the Mississippi Delta. Not true, says author Chris Thomas King. In The Blues, King presents facts to disprove such myths. For example, as early as 1900, the sound of the blues was ubiquitous in New Orleans. The Mississippi Delta, meanwhile, was an unpopulated sportsman’s paradise - the frontier was still in the process of being cleared and drained for cultivation. Moreover, this book is the first to argue that the blues began as a cosmopolitan art form, not a rural one.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
OK but I have some issues with some of the content
- By Amazon Customer on 08-11-22
-
Room Full of Mirrors
- A Biography of Jimi Hendrix
- By: Charles R. Cross
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 13 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,490
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,274
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,270
For many, the name Jimi Hendrix conjures up a larger-than-life image of the man who set fire to guitars, women's hearts, and the status quo. In this groundbreaking account, music journalist Charles R. Cross takes a far deeper look. Beyond Hendrix's legendary onstage and offstage magnetism, and his excessive lifestyle, was a man who struggled to accept his role as an idol and privately craved the kind of normal family life he never had.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Great Book - Interesting and Sad Story
- By Tim on 02-04-10
By: Charles R. Cross
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Kansas City Lightning
- The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker
- By: Stanley Crouch
- Narrated by: Kevin Kenerly
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 177
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 160
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 161
Kansas City Lightning: The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker is the first installment in the long-awaited portrait of one of the most talented and influential musicians of the twentieth century, from Stanley Crouch, one of the foremost authorities on jazz and culture in America. Throughout his life, Charlie Parker personified the tortured American artist: A revolutionary performer who used his alto saxophone to create a new music known as bebop even as he wrestled with a drug addiction that would lead to his death at the age of thirty-four.
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2 out of 5 stars
-
A Disappointment
- By Stephen on 01-04-19
By: Stanley Crouch
-
King of the Blues
- The Rise and Reign of B.B. King
- By: Daniel De Visé
- Narrated by: Cary Hite
- Length: 17 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 63
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 58
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 58
Riley “Blues Boy” King (1925-2015) was born into deep poverty in Jim Crow Mississippi. Wrenched away from his sharecropper father, B.B. lost his mother at age 10, leaving him more or less alone. Music became his emancipation from exhausting toil in the fields. Inspired by a local minister’s guitar and by the records of Blind Lemon Jefferson and T-Bone Walker and encouraged by his cousin, the established blues man Bukka White, B.B. taught his guitar to sing in the unique solo style that, along with his relentless work ethic and humanity, became his trademark.
-
5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent
- By Sonny Garcia on 01-02-24
By: Daniel De Visé
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Elements of Jazz: From Cakewalks to Fusion
- By: Bill Messenger, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Bill Messenger
- Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 707
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 617
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 612
Jazz is a uniquely American art form, one of America's great contributions to not only musical culture, but world culture, with each generation of musicians applying new levels of creativity that take the music in unexpected directions that defy definition, category, and stagnation. Now you can learn the basics and history of this intoxicating genre in an eight-lecture series that is as free-flowing and original as the art form itself.
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2 out of 5 stars
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A Disappointingly Distorted, Myopic View Of Jazz
- By Parallax View on 08-18-13
By: Bill Messenger, and others
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Duke
- A Life of Duke Ellington
- By: Terry Teachout
- Narrated by: Peter Francis James
- Length: 17 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 99
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 87
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 87
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was the greatest jazz composer of the twentieth century - and an impenetrably enigmatic personality whom no one, not even his closest friends, claimed to understand. The grandson of a slave, he dropped out of high school to become one of the world's most famous musicians, a showman of incomparable suavity who was as comfortable in Carnegie Hall as in the nightclubs where he honed his style.
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4 out of 5 stars
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This audiobook needs music
- By John on 04-08-14
By: Terry Teachout
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3 Shades of Blue
- Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and the Lost Empire of Cool
- By: James Kaplan
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 14 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 27
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 23
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Story5 out of 5 stars 23
From the author of the definitive biography of Frank Sinatra, the story of how jazz arrived at the pinnacle of American culture in 1959, told through the journey of three towering artists—Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Bill Evans—who came together to create the most iconic jazz album of all time, Kind of Blue.
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5 out of 5 stars
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important American History
- By VAJ on 06-06-24
By: James Kaplan
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Miles
- The Autobiography
- By: Miles Davis
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 16 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,287
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,144
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,131
Universally acclaimed as a musical genius, Miles Davis was one of the most important and influential musicians in the world. Here, Miles speaks out about his extraordinary life. Miles: The Autobiography, like Miles himself, holds nothing back. For the first time Miles talks about his five-year silence. He speaks frankly and openly about his drug problem and how he overcame it. He condemns the racism he encountered in the music business and in American society generally. And he discusses the women in his life.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A man untroubled by his own contradictions
- By Barry on 12-07-12
By: Miles Davis
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Last Night a DJ Saved My Life
- The History of the Disc Jockey
- By: Bill Brewster, Frank Broughton
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 24 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 41
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 34
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 34
From the early development of recorded and transmitted sound, DJs have been shaping the way we listen to music and the record industry. This book tracks down the inside story on some of music's most memorable moments. Focusing on the club DJ, the book gets firsthand accounts of the births of disco, hip-hop, house, and techno. Visiting legendary clubs like the Peppermint Lounge, Cheetah, the Loft, Sound Factory, and Ministry of Sound, and with interviews with legendary DJs, Last Night a DJ Saved My Life is a lively and entertaining account of musical history.
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5 out of 5 stars
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"Last Night a DJ Saved My Life" changed my life
- By max on 01-18-23
By: Bill Brewster, and others
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Biography of a Phantom
- A Robert Johnson Blues Odyssey
- By: Robert Mack McCormick, John Troutman - editor
- Narrated by: Adam Verner
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3
When blues master Robert Johnson's recordings were rereleased to great fanfare in the 1960s, little was known about his life, giving rise to legends that he gained success by selling his soul to the devil. Biography of a Phantom is musicologist Mack McCormick's search, from the late 1960s until McCormick's death in 2015, to uncover Johnson's life story. McCormick spent decades reconstructing Johnson's mysterious life and developing theories about his untimely death at the age of 27, but never made public his discoveries. Biography of a Phantom publishes his compelling work for the first time.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating
- By LYNN E MACDONA on 01-09-24
By: Robert Mack McCormick, and others
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A Long Strange Trip
- The Inside History of the Grateful Dead
- By: Dennis McNally
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 29 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 529
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 458
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Story5 out of 5 stars 459
From 1965 to 1995, the Grateful Dead flourished as one of the most beloved, unusual, and accomplished musical entities to ever grace American culture. The creative synchronicity among Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart, and Ron "Pigpen" McKernan exploded out of the early 60s roots and folk scene, providing the soundtrack for the Dionysian revels of the counterculture. Dennis McNally, the band's historian and publicist for more than 20 years, takes listeners back through the Dead's history.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing story!
- By Michael Knoll on 11-04-18
By: Dennis McNally
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Can't Be Satisfied
- The Life and Times of Muddy Waters
- By: Robert Gordon
- Narrated by: Keb' Mo'
- Length: 12 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 2
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Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 2
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Story5 out of 5 stars 2
The epic, rollicking, up-and-down life of Muddy Waters—who went from Mississippi farmhand to musical legend, invented electric blues, and created the template for the rock-and-roll band and its wild lifestyle—is chronicled with rare vividness in Robert Gordon’s widely praised biography.
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3 out of 5 stars
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The delivery was pretty bad
- By Rodney Combs on 04-27-24
By: Robert Gordon
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What listeners say about Delta Blues
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Chris Flynn
- 09-23-23
Delta Blues
Love this book! A wealth of information on the times, locations, and most importantly the players!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Monica
- 06-09-24
Excellent
This was an excellent book about the amazing musicians from Mississippi and how many of them were rediscovered later in their lives. The book had many heartfelt stories and funny moments. It was a pleasure to listen to.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Robert Costello
- 08-27-22
Very enjoyable primer to the old country blues.
As always, with Ted Gioia’s books, this is an easy and entertaining read. It is inclusive but not encyclopedic. It goes in depth just enough to be educational but does not lose its steady pace.
Also, many recommendations of the various artist’s works are provided, so it’s easy to make your own Delta Blues playlist on whatever music streaming service you subscribe, too.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- R. Smith
- 05-13-23
Superb
This man really knows how to write a book. If there was such a thing as a standard textbook for the blues, this would be it. Also see his outstanding subversive history of music.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Pat Smith
- 01-30-23
Excellent
Such a big topic for one book, but his one does a great job. Most interesting and enjoyable
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mark Beavers
- 01-14-23
Exhaustive and enjoyable book
Didn’t want it to end, such a deep level of detail and passion. Class A book
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 10-21-23
Very in-depth
Great book very in-depth. Focused on the Mississippi Delta blues. Doesn’t have much discussion of Blind Lemon Jefferson a Lead Belly accordingly. Great book.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Bryan Lopez
- 06-01-22
For the Blues Lovers.
Excellent stories, great writing, great narration.
Great for learning where our roots come from. Worth every penny.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- JC
- 10-02-23
Excellent Blues book.
If you geek out on old blues and are fascinated by the musicians that made them, this is an excellent book!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Frankie Nowhere
- 04-10-24
Very interesting all the way through!
This was an amazing journey! I’m from Greenville, Mississippi. I can’t wait for my next trip home. Great job on this book! Loved it!
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